The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
What are the chances that Trespass (2011) in which my beloved Nicole Kidman is soiled by association with hacktor Nicolas Cage is as terrible as Next (2007) in which my beloved Julianne Moore was soiled by association with hacktor Nicolas Cage?
Slim? I mean Next is an atrocious movie... so Trespass would have to be less embarrassing, right? Famous last words?
The only reason I saw Next back in the day was because I'm a masochist/completist with Julianne. Even Julianne herself felt sorry for me when I told her I'd seen nearly all of them.
Really? My god, you've seen some junk then!
I haven't been anywhere close to a completist with Nicki Kidman
Scouting New York Fun/creepy. Take a retro tour of American Psycho's New York City landmarks. Pajiba Speaking of Christian Bale. The web is abuzz with all those Dark Knight Rises on set photos now that filming has commenced. I agree with Iggy on Tom Hardy's lipless "Bane" look, however true to character it may be. Iggy wrote...
Hardy. Better with lips.
it must be a cinematic crime hiring Hardy, the most lusciuous male lips, and make him wear that thing. Could this be considered playing against type?
Geekscape Since Batman is in the air, why not a ranking of all filmed Catwomen? I find it hilarious that Anne Hathaway is included in this six-wide field since she hasn't even purred yet. Who knows how good she will or won't be? The Pfeiffer write up is insightful. Twitch Superhero fatigue has not yet set in. Commissioned scripts for Ant Man and Doctor Strange have been turned in to Marvel Studios. My New Plaid Pants surveys the current wanting cinema crop Twitch Forbes Highest Paid Actors list: Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio are up top but the list is soooo 1990s as if nothing ever changes in Hollywood.
La Daily MustoHello Gorgeous. Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) will star in the revival of Funny Girl. I'm stunned and happy. Here's a video making the rounds of her doing the famous closing number "My Man"
It's such an interesting choice because it clearly signifies that the producers are NOT trying to duplicate Barbra. Which is, I think most people of sound minds would admit, the only sane way to approach reviving such an iconic connected-to-one-legend piece of theater.
Austin Translation "there's a snape in my boots" Regretsy Zombie Golden Girls Broadway Blog the original Evita and Che, Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin are reuniting for a limited run concert on Broadway.
Finally, mark your calendars for August 31st. Gonzo 80s 'classic' Scarface will be showing at 500 screens nationwide to celebrate an epic Blu-Ray release. I'm not wild about the movie which is so widely embraced by gangstas who love its excess unironically and ignore its cautionary tale finale. But if you've never seen it you'd be crazy to miss the chance to see Michelle Pfeiffer's first great performance on the big screen. That year's supporting actress nominees can kiss her skinny pampered ass. Imagine that arguably star-making backless dress / elevator descent entrance on the big screen! Al Pacino's ambitious criminal is hypnotized and so were movie audiences, rescuing La Pfeiffer from her then status as 'Grease 2 girl'. If her entrance isn't enough imagine those 80s dance moves, or the huge-ass sunglasses. Chase those Pfeiffer visuals with mounds and mounds of coke snorting and utter icy contempt for everyone in her field of vision... including herself. She's mesmerizing. Oh and, yeah, some people would describe the movie that way, too.
File this under 'The Hollywood Walk of Fame Makes No Sense.' The star-getting procedure is such that some people get them in their first few years of fame while the danger of "flash in the pan" still looms and other bonafide legends get them a full four decades after they started making cinema-shaking waves. In short, it's utter nonsense.
But that doesn't mean we don't still like seeing the nation's actresses celebrated whenever that does occur. Congratulations, Sissy!
Usually star ceremonies will include co-stars pushing whichever new project the star has (in this case THE HELP) and at least one really famous co-star (like when Bridges was on hand for Pfabulous Pfeiffer's star a few years back though they hadn't worked together since the 80s) but this one was oddly attended. Bill Paxton (Sissy did a guest role on Big Love) and David Lynch who directed Sissy in The Straight Story (1999) as the main guests? Neither are particularly representative of her career. Story is hardly a Sissy film even though it's a goodie. I don't know if David Lynch has a star on the Walk of Fame but if he doesn't and he ever gets one they should straight up rethink the honor and ceremony and his star should be unveiled on a wall framed by red curtains rather than carpet.
Did you know...? Sissy Spacek is #8 in Oscar's entire Actress Hierarchy, tied with the following women for an incredible six nominations: Redgrave, Burstyn, Sissy's closest star trajectory contemporary Jessica Lange, beloved Dames Dench & Smith, Winslet (the most recent to join this elite club) and the record holding most-nominated losers Deborah Kerr & Thelma Ritter. (Plus Norma Shearer depending on how you count her honors -- the Academy's early days are odd statistically speaking.) Close & Blanchett are the next possible party-crashers to this group with 5 nods apiece.
Alexa here. Today is Myrna Loy's birthday, so to celebrate this supremely unique, intelligent, plainspoken goddess, I dug up this vintage Picture Play magazine of mine from 1940 with Myrna on the cover.
Myrna goes nautical
Myrna appeared in this 1940 issue in pictures only, ostensibly to promote her upcoming film with William Powell, I Love You Again (their ninth film together), a Regarding Henry-esque amnesiac light romance that was just another opportunity to get the two of them together. Every time I see a film with them I think of their real-life meet cute, so perfectly described in Myrna's autobiography.
So get this. I offered up True Blood reviewing duties to the entire Team TFE last week when I was out of town and noone bit. What's up with that? No fangbangers in this house? Which means we've got two episodes to chat up today. Ratings for True Blood are strong this season and deservedly so. We're only halfway in but -- at this point -- it's much stronger than Season 3. It also isn't as repetitive as Season 2. We definitely approve thus far.
"Drink now."
4.5 "Me and the Devil" Here we have a perfectly titled episode as everyone is battling their personal demons (Tara and Eric specifically) or actual demons as the case might be (Arlene & Terry who hold an exorcism of sorts in their house, still worrying about their spooky baby).
This is also another terrific rangey episode, with fast pacing, surprises and character bits. It kicks off with a violent family squabble (Tommy vs. his parents), moves expertly through tense comedy including the aforementioned exorcism, Bill glamouring his latest fling to "scream" and run whenever she sees him, and Lafayette's post Pam-cursing reaction to Marnie's 'who? me?' act.
That's some catchy shit for your headstone!"
Despite the abundance of actual plot there's graceful tightening of story threads as Sookie's finally braids to Marnie's when the women meet under the false pretenses of a reading. It doesn't turn out how Sookie or Marnie OR the audience expect.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 3:00PM 
